An Appraisal of

Photographers

Vaishnavi Shivram

“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learnt in life- It goes on”- Robert Frost

Vaishnavi Shivram

Often stuck in a dichotomy of thoughts and choices. She says she’s your usual girl next door with a lot of twists. Basically A delhi based fashion media communication student trying to voice her opinion about fashion, art,

lifestyle and other personal things.

About the Writer &

Curator

P rabuddha D asgupta &

Ellen von Unwerth

Prabuddha DasguptaEdge Of Faith

The Portuguese Catholic community of Goa and the dilemma amongst the people, caused by the historic event of the Portuguese colonisation in India, 1510

onwards caused Dasgupta to capture every breath of the state while preserving both the culture of both the

religions and community’s.

Located on the west coast of India along the Arabian Sea, Goa was liberated in 1961, after

450 years of Portuguese rule. The ambivalence created by this transition of culture and politi-

cal loyalty provides the backdrop for the work of Indian photographer Prabuddha Dasgupta

in Edge of Faith. The 79 black and white photo-graphs create an intimate and deeply person-

al portrait of the Catholic community in Goa rarely seen before—a portrait of a gentle and

generous people, torn between their fidelity to a history of Portuguese faith and culture and

their post-Independence Indian identity. Edge of Faith captures Catholic Goa in a haunting, but beautiful impasse—caught in a time warp

between comforting nostalgia and a doubt-rid-den, insecure future.*1st

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A lot has been written and said about Prabuddha Dasgupta’s style of working and his beliefs. Words

like fearless, visionary, iconic, philosopher and most-ly a perfectionist have been used to describe him over

time. An artist who’s known to put at least an iota of his soul into all his pictures be it artistic or commer-

cial, and that a picture is never really an artists’ till there’s an element complementing to the artists’ per-

sona put to it . A photographer for whom, compro-mising his aesthetics is like compromising his inner

sanctum of him being himself. The main and the most perceptible philosophy of him has to be his rawness

and his want for everything to have a story and to be natural. There’s a certain naked-ness in all his pic-

tures, with the concepts being so routine yet creating a dichotomy of thought regarding a concealed, more

ardent meaning to them.

Philosophy

Ellen von UnwerthFraulein

Burlesque as a racy form of entertainment popular in the 19th century- often used as a platform to mim-

ic the societal norms and cultures and the way of life in an overly sensual and erotic manner. In this book curated by Ingrid Sischey we see pictures clicked by Unwerth which are highly inspired by the burlesque

artists and the art through cosplay in the photos.

The photos contained in Fraulein, they consist in the main of good girls playing at being bad; and

when they’re bad they are, of course, better. With several photos there is a clandestine ele-

ment/demimonde vibe such as can be found in Brassai’s photos of Parisian nightlife or one or two

obscure Erich von Stroheim films. You might be in a burlesque or a brothel, a circus or a swanky

hotel during wartime. Each photo as a perfor-mance, with cosplay being the predominant

aesthetic: having got all dressed up, these ladies now tease and provoke to camera. And like

New Burlesque, you can package it as empow-erment if you want.*2nd

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A woman who’s photos seem so fun and joyful yet erotic at the same time, also having a knack of mak-

ing them look elegant- must seem as such a stren-uous task; but if we had to believe her-“They just have fun”. An artist, whose photos are completely

unbleached, very relatable and self-explanatory. Play-fulness, personality and charm are the core facets a

viewer would see in her photographs, holding tight on to the anecdote. One of her major philosophies to get the outcome that she gets is also to let her subjects be

free by not restricting them to a pose always.

Philosophy